Manual apparatus for applying an adhesive tape over an edge



March 27, 1962 Filed April 7, 1961 H. ROTHENBERGER MANUAL APPARATUS FOR APPLYING AN ADHESIVE TAPE OVER AN EDGE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 /NVENMR H HA/vsyris RoT/ENBFRGER A TTOH'IVEYS March 27, 1962 H. ROTHENBERGER 3,027,292

MANUAL APPARATUS PoR APPLYING AN ADHESIVE TAPE OVER AN EDGE Filed April 7, 1961 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Fig. 3

5777, HMYIMQP ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,027,292 MANUAL APPARATUS FOR APPLYING AN ADHESIVE TAPE OVER AN EDGE Hansjrg Rothenberger, 173 Rorschacherstr., St. Gallen, Switzerland Filed Apr. 7, 1961, Ser. No. 101,484 Claims priority, application Switzerland Apr. 13, 1960 13 Claims. (Cl. 156-468) The present invention relates to a manual apparatus for applying an adhesive tape over an edge, for example when packing boxes.

The manual apparatus according to the invention comprises a casing having a sole plate provided with a recess for the adhesive tape and further including a pressing lever pivotable against the action of a spring into the easing as well as also a pivotable feeler lever, a springloaded knife being movable on the inner side of the sole plate releasing, when loaded, the recess in the sole plate and being held in this position by locking means, a slide articulated to the feeler lever for a first locking and release of the knife depending on the position of the feeler lever and finally a two-armed tumbler pivotable in transverse direction to the sole plate and projecting with a release beyond this plate for a second locking and for selectively automatically or manually releasing the knife.

Other features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the description now to follow, of a preferred embodiment thereof, given by way of eX- ample only, and in which reference will be made to the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIGURE l shows the manual apparatus with the sidewall removed in the starting position for applying an adhesive tape over an edge.

FIGURE 2 shows the manual apparatus with parts of the side wall broken away in a working position following the passage of an edge, and

FIGURE 3 is a section taken along the line A-A in FIGURE 2.

Referring now to the drawing a sole plate 11 carries a casing comprising a rigid wall 12, a wall 13 (not shown in FIGURE l) and a handle 14. In FIGURES 2 and 3 the wall 13 is partly broken away. The wall 12, is provided with a bolt 15 for adapting a pressing lever 16 carrying at its free end a roller 17. The pressing lever projects through a recess 18 in plate 11 beyond the apparatus and may be pivoted into the latter. A hub 19 is further screwed to the wall 12 and to this hub is articulated a feeler lever 20 also carrying at its free end a roller 21. The hub 19 further comprises in an angular groove a helical spring 22 loading the feeler lever 20 towards a stationary abutment 23. The feeler lever 20 as well as the pressing lever 16 projects beyond the plate 11 and may be pivoted into the casing in the same manner as the latter. A reel 24 having a stock of adhesive tape wound onto it is arranged on the hub 19 and adhesive tape 25 drawn off this reel is guided between a roller 26 and a leaf spring 27 both of these parts being mounted on the feeler lever 20. The clamp formed by the guiding 26, 27 is adjustable with respect to the feeler lever. The latter further carries a pin 28 serving to lift the lever 16. Fin-ally a slide 30 is articulated through a pivot pin 29 to the feeler lever 20.

The slide 30 runs in a lateral bellying 31 of the wall 12 serving as straight guide for the slide 30 along the sole plate 11. The bellying 311 is limited or bordered in longitudinal direction by edges 32, 33. The slide 30 further has a nose portion 34 facing the casing wall and a transverse arm 35, the latter having its free end bent to form a hook 36'. The sole plate 11 carries a bearing bolt 37 about which is pivotally mounted a knife. The latter has a cutting blade 38, a hub 39 and a` lateral arm ice 40 carrying a pivot pin 41 at the tooth 42. The knife is loaded by a helical spring 43 surrounding the bearing bolt 37. In place of the illustrated pivotable knife 38 there could also be provided a knife reciprecable in straight direction yalong the recess 1S of the sole plate and the edge of which is slightly inclined. A two-armed tumbler 46 is arranged by a bolt 45 on two eyelets 44 provided in the sole plate 11. One of the lever arms is formed as a catch tool 47 and bears against the tooth 42. The other lever arm is loaded by a pair of leaf springs 48 so as to bear against the sole plate 1.1 to a projection 49. The last-mentioned lever arm further has a nose portion 50 projecting through an opening in the sole plate 11 to such an extent that when the nose portion 50 is depressed the tooth 47 releases the tooth 42. The handle 14 comprises a wooden filler piece 51 at which are arranged on a bolt 52 two levers 53 and 54. These two levers serve as locking levers and are adjustable with respect to the projection 49 of the tumbler so as to lock or release the latter. The lever 53 is of the one-arm type while lever 54 has two arms and the arm farther away from the tumbler carries a pressure handle 55 protruding from the handle 14. The lever 53, when under the action of spring 57, is released and may be brought into locking position by a pressure exerted onto the pressure handle 55.

The described and illustrated manual apparatus operates as follows: v

For closing a parcel 60 the forward end of the sole plate 11 is placed on the upper side 61 thereof and is advanced thereon until the pressing roller 17 is applied to the front side 62 of the parcel as shown in FiGURE l. The end of the adhesive tape 25 is thereby pressed with its adhesive side against the front side 62 of the parcel. If now the apparatus is further advanced onto the parcel the tape 25 will be applied completely against the side 62 and around the edge 63, wh-ereby the pressing roller 17 rolls over the tape and about the edge 63 to the position 17 thereby lifting the two levers 16 and 20 and loading the spring 22. The feeler lever in this operation comes to the position 20 in which the roller 211 is on the side face 62 of the parcel. Upon further advance of the apparatus the pressing roller rolls on the upper side 61 of the package and the feeler lever 20 is lifted away from the pressing roller 17. As the feeler roller 21 rolls around the edge 63 the pin 28 also lifts the pressing lever 16. The lifting of the feeler lever 20 results in moving to the right the slide 30 and the arm 35 lifts the pin 41 from the movable knife 38. However, the latter remains locked through the tooth 47 of the tumbler. `In the position now attained the slide 30 has been moved to the right to such an extent that the nose portion 34 is caught at the edge 33 and prevents the return of the slide. In this position the arm 35 presses the locking lever 53 out of the locking position so that the locking of the tumbler is released. This position is represented in FIGURES 2 and 3.

If the apparatus is further moved over the parcel the nose portion 50 of the tumbler arrives onto the edge 63 and is pressed into the sole plate 11. This results in the tooth 47 of the tumbler releasing the movable knife 38. This in turn results in a sudden pivotal movem-ent of the knife 38 under the action of spring 43 about the bolt 37 so that by scissorlike cooperation with the stationary upper part 38a, the adhesive tape 25 is severed. The stationary cutter part 38a is arranged immediately at the corresponding front end of the recess 18 in the sole plate and the movable knife 38 passes underneath it. iIn order to prevent that the tape 25 pulling outwardly may also pull the movable knife blade 38 outwardly towards or even over the stationary cutter part 38a a nose portion 38b, projecting over the cutting edge, is provided at the free end of the knife 3S and this nose at the beginning of the cutting operation engages beneath the stationary cutter part 38a and thus serves as a guiding to the movable knife during the cutting action. At the end of the pivotal movement of the knife 38 the pivot pin 41 engages the hook 36 on the arm 35 thereby pulling the slide 30 out of its stop position.

Upon lifting of the apparatus `from the parcel the tumbler 46 returns into the represented locking position and the feeler lever 2t) is lowered under the action of its spring 22, thereby pushing the pressing lever 16. The new end of the tape 25 is always in front of the roller 17 so as to be ready for a new working operation. When the feeler lever 20 is lowered, the slide 30 is again pulled to the left. Thereby the locking lever 53 is released again and pivots into the locking position in front of the projection 49 of the tumbler. The arm 35 pivots the pin 41 of the knife 38 into the starting position, thereby loading the spring 43. In this starting position the tooth 42 is caught by the tooth 47. The apparatus is ready for a new operation.

In the described operation the release of the knife is effected automatically when the nose portion '50, on running onto the edge 63, is pressed in. The release of the knife may also be obtained selectively after any desired tape length after the edtge by depressing the handle 55 so as to move the locking lever 54 into the locking position in front of the projection 49 of the tumbler, in order to prevent a release of the knife by pressing-in the nose portion 50. For manual release of the knife the handle 55 is let go.

The arrangement also could be such that the manual release of the knife (with the nose portion 50 depressed) is not initiated when the handle 55 is released but when this handle is depressed. Also the nose portion t) could be formed as an additional pressing roller or a further Separate pressing roll could be provided in the zone of this nose portion.

The described manual apparatus affords for a quick and clean application of an adhesive tape over an edge, for example when making parcels. The apparatus is not dependent on the size of the parcels to be closed since it is only placed with its forward portion onto the upper side of the parcel and moved over the latter whereby the tape is applied to the lateral surface and over the edge and onto the upper side. The manual severing of the adhesive tape affords for the application of tape portions of any desired length whereby several edges may be covered one after the other.

I claim:

1. A manual apparatus for applying an adhesive tape over an edge comprising, a casing having a sole plate provided with a recess for the adhesive tape and further including a pressing lever pivotable against the action of a spring into the casing as well as also a pivotable feeler lever, a spring-loaded knife being movable on the inner side of the sole plate releasing, when loaded, the recess in the sole plate and being held in this position by locking means, a slide articulated to the feeler lever for a first locking and release of the knife depending on the position of the feeler lever and finally a two-armed turnbler pivotable in transverse direction to the sole plate and projecting with a release beyond this plate for a second locking and for selectively automatically or manually releasing the knife.

2. A manual apparatus as claimed in claim l, in which the pressing lever and the feeler lever are each provided with a roller and in which the feeler lever additionally is provided with a pin, whereby in the starting position the feeler lever rests on the roller of the pressing lever and in the end position the latter rests on said pin of the feeler lever.

3. A manual apparatus as claimed in claim 2, in which the feeler lever is arranged on a pivot pin on the sidewall of the casing, said pin carrying a torsion spring loading the feeler lever outwardly through the recess in the sole plate, said pivot pin additionally serving as a bearing for a lbobbin of adhesive tape.

4. A manual apparatus -as claimed in claim l, in which the slide articulated to the feeler lever is running in a bellying serving as a guiding of the casing and comprises a nose portion directed towards the casing wall and adapted in the end position of the slide to be caught at an edge of the casing and thereby to lock the slide.

5. A manual apparatus as claimed in claim 4, in which the slide is provided with a transverse arm locking in the starting position of the slide the movable knife and releasing the latter in the end position.

6. A manual apparatus as claimed in claim 1, in which the movable knife cooperates with a stationary knife at the front end of the sole plate recess.

7. A manual apparatus as claimed in claim 6, in which the movable knife is pivotally arranged on a bolt of the sole plate and comprises at its free end a nose portion projecting over the knife edge, said nose portion upon engagement of the movable knife with the stationary cutter sliding beneath the latter so as to serve as a guiding to the movable knife during the severing action.

8. A manual apparatus as claimed in claim 7, in which the movable knife has a lateral arm carrying a pivot pin and a tooth, the pin cooperating with the slide and the tooth cooperating with the tumbler.

9. A manual apparatus as claimed in claim 8, in which the pivot pin at the knife arm in the end position of the latter bears against the arm thereof transversally to the sliding direction of the slide thereby releasing the slide, and wherein the returning slide pivots the knife back into the tensioned starting position.

l0. A manual apparatus as claimed in claim 1, comprising a pair of locking levers separately pivotal about a common axis, one of said levers having one arm and its end arranged in front of the tumbler in order to lockfthe latter and being released by the slide in its end position, the other lever having two arms and being provided with a feeler handle which when depressed pivots this lever into the locking position with respect to the tumbler.

11. A manual apparatus as claimed in claim 1, in which the feeler lever has a guiding for the adhesive tape unwound from the bobbin.

12. A manual apparatus as claimed in claim 11, in which said guiding is adjustable with respect to the distance separating it from the cutting Zone of the movable knife.

13. A manual apparatus as claimed in claim l1, in which the said release is in form of a pressure roll.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

1. A MANUAL APPARATUS FOR APPLYING AN ADHESIVE TAPE OVER AN EDGE COMPRISING A CASING HAVING A SOLE PLATE PROVIDED WITH A RECESS FOR THE ADHESIVE TAPE AND FURTHER INCLUDING A PRESSING LEVER PIVOTABLE AGAINST THE ACTION OF A SPRING INTO THE CASING AS WELL AS ALSO A PIVOTABLE FEELER LEVER, A SPRING-LOADED KNIFE BEING MOVABLE ON THE INNER SIDE OF THE SOLE PLATE RELEASING, WHEN LOADED, THE RECESS IN THE SOLE PLATE AND BEING HELD IN THIS POSITION BY LOCKING MEANS, A SLIDE ARTICULATED TO THE FEELER LEVER FOR A FIRST LOCKING AND RELEASE OF THE KNIFE DEPENDING ON THE POSITION OF THE FEELER LEVER AND FINALLY A TWO-ARMED TUMBLER PIVOTABLE IN TRANSVERSE DIRECTION TO THE SOLE PLATE AND PROJECTING WITH A RELEASE BEYOND THIS PLATE FOR A SECOND LOCKING AND FOR SELECTIVELY AUTOMATICALLY OR MANUALLY RELEASING THE KNIFE. 